Markus Cromwell
'''Markus "Riot" Cromwell '''is a human cybernetic and former test subject of the pro-human organization Cerberus. Biography As a child Riot seldom saw his parents, and when he did they were always much too busy to spend any significant amount of time with him. They spent much of their time at home locked in their study, and even when they were outside it the would constantly mutter and discuss scientific problems with one another. The two were high profile cybernetics researchers and biologists but the rest of the scientific community was wary of them for their eagerness to push the boundaries of ethics. It was a common rumour among their peers that the two only conceived a child in the hopes that he would follow in their footsteps and inherit their intelligence. The two very obviously lost a great deal of interest in Riot when it became clear that he was more physically inclined and his interests were not in academics. As he grew older he became more aware of how abnormal his parents were compared to others and just how extreme their human supremacist views were. At 18 he left home after a rather heated argument with his parents after they found out he’d made friends with a Turian. In 2177, after cutting ties with his old life he tried to forge a new one for himself and he joined the local police hoping to be able to help people and put as much distance between himself and his parents as he could. In his down time, he also took up boxing as well and almost obsessively dedicated himself to it knowing how disappointed his parents were that he wasn’t an intellectual like them. Riot’s parents were early supporters of Cerberus and fully committed themselves to the organisation’s ideals. When it came time for a test subject to be chosen for the “Krogan Buster” project that they had been put in charge of they happily submitted their son for consideration for the project as in their warped view it was the greatest gift they could give to him. In 2179, under false pretenses, Cerberus doctors brought Riot into their facility and began work. Once completed Riot awoke to his new body and was informed of the purpose of the project. To develop a way to create soldiers who could take a krogan on head-on. Many portions of his body, including his forearms and significant chunks of his torso, had been replaced with advanced cybernetics. His forearm could deploy into a small shield, combining together with his other to become a larger one. A baton was also deployable from the same area. He appeared almost entirely synthetic now, with only a complex melding of his internal organs with the synthetic body holding true to his original birth. When it became clear he was resisting, however, the project was given lower priority and moved to a more remote facility until they were able to convince him to willingly or otherwise submit to their tests and progress the project. Before that could happen though, in 2182 the facility was raided by pirates and Riot took the opportunity to escape and strike out on his own. During the raid, many Cerberus operatives lost their lives leaving Riot feeling conflicted as to how he should feel about the attack. After all, they were bad people who would be all too willing to do the same to others. However the pirates were not motivated by any righteous cause for vengeance or justice, they were just stealing any and all equipment they could turn a profit with. Fighting his way past operatives and pirates, Riot managed to confirm his parents and other high ranked members of staff had escaped prior to the attack and were likely retreating to another facility with their research notes to continue their work. His escape from the facility was something of a baptism by fire for Riot as he’d never been in a life or death situation before. And facing pirates that wanted to steal him and Cerberus operatives that wanted to subdue him and both of whom wanted to kill the other proved to be quite the field testing opportunity. Riot quickly learned the limits and capabilities of his body as he barrelled a path through the two factions. The main reason he did so well, however, was that both sides were pulling their punches as both saw his potential value. Finally, his last test came when he had to fight a Krogan pirate for the ship he was guarding. Cerberus would finally see if their work had paid off as a live-feed was beamed to other facilities from the security systems. After a prolonged brawl, Riot finally subdued the young krogan and won his freedom as he claimed the ship. Now free of Cerberus, Riot renamed himself after the weaponry in his arms and struck out in a ship he’d commandeered from the pirates, setting out to disrupt any Cerberus operations he found while using his cybernetic body to do as much good as he could along the way. At the same time, he had to take great care to stay as under the radar as possible to avoid constant barrages of Cerberus operatives trying to bring him back for further testing. To support himself, Riot began taking on odd jobs wherever he set down. As his began his new life as Riot, however, nagging doubts plagued him. It was rather odd that the head researchers all knew to escape before the attack, and it was a little too convenient that he’d been in the least fortified, most isolated compound Cerberus had, and that the pirates had all been aliens with no humans among them. Of course this could all be a coincidence, but he knew that there were two people out there that would know for certain, and that if he ever wanted peace of mind he’d have to find his parents. Armament Markus carries with him an M-6 Carnifex with both a Concussive Shot launcher and Flak Cannon attached. Barricade generators are a common sight within his armament, and his significant cybernetic augmentations grant his arsenal built-in riot shields and a baton. Category:Humans Category:Characters Category:Cerberus Category:Cerberus Test Subjects Category:Cyborgs